"A blog is to a writer what a canvas is to an artist." ~ Colleen Redman

Archive for September, 2017

1. The first thing I said to Joe when I came to after having anesthesia for a medical procedure was “What did Trump do while I was under?” 2. The nurse in the room overheard me and said, “It’s an applecart going downhill that just hasn’t hit the bottom yet.” 3. Mario and Lugi’s nemesis […]

How many can say they’ve actually participated in one of those surprise birthday parties that you see in movies where everyone hides, then jumps out shouting “Happy Birthday” when the person with the birthday arrives unaware? We recently pulled one of those off for our friend Jayn. Yes, we parked in an upper field away […]

I want a poem I can live happily ever after with even if we fight A poem that will talk to me but one that won’t say what it thinks I want to hear I want a poem meant to be that says what it means and isn’t afraid to wear its heart on its […]

I know that Smashing Pumpkins is the name of a band but it’s also a tradition in our family. It’s a “boys will be boys” (as my 9-year-old grandson Bryce says) fun way to dispose of rotting pumpkins that I grew. And there is more than one way to collect seeds for roasting. Bryce came […]

-The following first appeared in The Floyd Press on September 21, 2017. Laughter filled the June Bug Center over the weekend for the Floyd Community Theatre Guild’s (FCTG) production of The Not-so-Grimm Tales. Presented by eleven young actors, the play gives a modern twist to three Grimm Fairy Tales, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White […]

1. THIS is what happens when you drink the kool-aid. 2. Joe and I went to a Cosmic Charlie Grateful Dead tribute band concert at Chantilly Farm over the weekend. I couldn’t decide if it felt like I was at a rave or a gospel church service. 3. For me, going to Grateful Dead concerts […]

Cosmic Charlie set some “fire on the mountain” Saturday night at Chantilly Farm in Floyd. For me, going to Grateful Dead concerts – whether an actual show with Jerry Garcia and the rest or a great tribute band like Cosmic Charlie or The Kind – is something like going to church. There is a following […]

My bed is the hearth of my home where teacups gather like neighbors and scribbled notes are brushed aside to make room for friends who come to call for foot rubs that follow the news Sometimes my blue comforter is like a blanket on the beach and I’m the tourist of my favorite dreams I […]

1. This is my first time reading a memoir that starts with the author telling her story from before she was born. 2. “Though I was reluctant to be born, I was attracted by the music. I had plans. I was entrusted with carrying voices, songs and stories to grow and release to the world, […]

-The following first appeared as a feature in Sounds of Floyd, a July 2017 magazine insert publication of The Floyd Press Floyd has always been rich with mountain music, whether it was played on porches, in living rooms, in hollers or churches. The Floyd Country Store’s Friday Night Jamboree was one of the town’s first […]

-The following first appeared with a larger spread of photos in The Floyd Press on September 7, 2017. A slideshow of other photos can be viewed on the Floyd Press website. There was an impressive turnout for the 6th annual Yoga Jam despite scattered showers and overcast weather Friday and Saturday. Parking lots and campsites […]

1. Like a football game is compromised when the weather is bad, I learned that my poem reading game is affected by cold drizzling weather. I was a little off rhythm at the first annual Poetry Slam at Floyd Yoga Jam, but still it was fun to participate. See HERE. 2. The Yoga Jam program […]

And that’s no fish tale. I’m not surprised that it was mostly Floyd dancers who danced on the grass at the Yoga Jam main stage while Floyd-based band Music Road played Sunday afternoon. We, my peers and I, have watched most of the band members grow-up and grow into excellent musicians. Some of us have […]

About

From the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia I write to synthesize what I'm learning at the time, whether it be poetry, a political commentary, or a letter to my mother in Hull, Massachusetts, where I'm originally from. Whenever I don't know exactly what it is I'm doing and it borders on wasting my time, I call it research. 'Dear Abby, How can I get rid of freckles?' was my first published piece at the age of 11.